


Turn South From That Place

by fullmoon01



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Other, and the characters of The 100, ghosts that we knew, inspired by Mumford and Sons, keep the Earth below our feet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 15:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7646521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullmoon01/pseuds/fullmoon01
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A story of self-discovery and loss, friendship and love and of finding your ground.</p><p>Loosely based on the book "Le Petit Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Éxupery and the movie "Interstellar" by Christopher Nolan. Title from "Ghosts That We Knew" by Mumford and Sons. I highly encourage you to listen to that song but please to the live version on Letterman.</p><p>I started writing this fic because I'm sucker for Clarke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turn South From That Place

**Author's Note:**

> This is crazy but I don't care.  
> Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REo7VnlenOA

_But I will hold on hope_  
_And I won't let you choke_  
_On the noose around your neck_  
_-The Cave-_

You wake with a gasp from the dream. 

Your shirt clings uncomfortably to your lower back and your thighs feel like they are burning up. You can’t remember what the dream was about but you need to shake your head to banish the last shadows dancing in front of your eyes.

Still half dazed you bring your trembling hand to your face and wipe away the fine sheen of sweat that has collected on your forehead. You wince as you rub your eyes, there are crusty pieces of dust on the rims, sticking your lashes together.

You check the red bright lights of the clock on the little bedside table next to. It’s just 6:30am. You know you won’t get any more sleep, so you sigh and get up to stretch yourself. You are so tired that you forget the low level of the ceiling and painfully bump your head.

The Ark has never been the most spacious of places but you don’t know anything else. Everyone has a little room with (if one’s lucky) at least a window to the outside. Yours actually has a window and you are quite happy about it.

Maybe that’s because your mother is a doctor on the Ark and your father is one of the leading engineers. Apart from that advantage nothing else which you would consider as “special treatment” has been given to you.

You stare from your window at the stars outside, shining and glittering in the distance. 

Your throat is dry but water is always rare in space so you allow yourself just a few drops from your bottle. You heard stories about the Earth and that before the nuclear catastrophe there were rivers so clean, you could bath your feet inside and drink the water from your hands at the same time. Maybe the environment has changed in the last hundred years. It’s a foreign, unimaginable concept to you, but what if life on Earth was a possibility?

You don’t know why but on some days your heart aches for something you’ve never known. It’s a feeling as if it was being pulled by an invisible force, just held in your ribcage by bones. Maybe your children will be able to travel to Earth. Maybe your grandchildren. Maybe you will all just die on the Ark though.

  
You sigh and sit to your writing table to start painting, continuing with the half-finished draft in front of you.  
There’s nothing else you can do, the doors will be locked until 8am when everyone will be shushed out of their rooms to take breakfast and keep the given daily routine. Painting has always been your escape. The only time where you can let your mind wander to places so very far.

  
Your newest work is a draft of the universe known to the human kind. You’ve already painted Saturn and Mercury and while you left space for the other planets, you now smear the outline of Mars with your fingertip and apply a bit more of your favourite red to it. The red crayon is already short, you’ve used it many times although you know that there are not many left.

 

Time passes, the minutes tickle by and you lose yourself.

 

(One day passes after the next.)

 

(The Earth keeps the Ark in its orbit.)

 

You’ve always wondered why distinguishing day and night was so essential to the human being. You feel like you wander through your dreams like you wander through your life. Certain shades from day always mingle with those of night and it’s no different the other way around.

  
Sometimes you remember and then you don’t. When you wake up this time you come to realize that you are actually sitting up and your heart is ferociously beating in your chest. You try to put words to the feeling that zaps through your muscles, maybe it’s the distinct memory of something close to weightlessness. It wraps around your heart and shoots through your bones. Sometimes after those vivid dreams it happens that you open your eyes and find yourself in and unexpected position. You’ve already found your body from curled up on the floor next to your bed, to waking up with your arms stretched up to the ceiling, starlight shining through your widely spread fingers. At some point you stopped finding that weird. Today you are in your bed but you feel as if you’ve gone very far.

 

It’s lunch time and you are sitting with your best friend Wells and some other people. They are talking, their chattering going on without a break. You sigh while you look down at your plate.

  
Suddenly Chancellor Kane and your mother approach the table.

  
“Clarke, please come with us to the meeting room. Your father is already there we have something to discuss with you.” Kane says.

  
Your mother is just shifting nervously from one feet to the other. You feel quite estranged from her lately but to be honest you feel estranged from everyone. It’s like looking through glass and you’re not sure if you are inside or outside.

  
Wells sends you a worried glance. He’s a good guy, always eager to keep your mood up even when you obviously feel bad.

  
(Which you do a lot lately.)

  
“I’ll be back in a few minutes, don’t worry Wells” you tell him. You are not very sure about not worrying. Something seems to be off but you push the feeling aside.

  
(Which you also do a lot lately.)

  
You follow your mother and Kane to the meeting room. Your father is already there and there’s also a girl. She smiles at you when you enter, the smile lighting up her whole face, illuminating her brown eyes and showing a big smile. She’s gorgeous.

  
“Hi. I’m Raven!” she says.

  
You probably look dumbfounded but you still manage to squeeze out: “Hello, it’s a pleasure, I’m Clarke.”

  
“Well Clarke, you know we are here on a very specific mission. Which is exploring the planets in the close surroundings of the Ark.” Raven says.

  
You don’t say anything. You wouldn’t even know what. This sounds unbelievable.

  
(Why are you here?)

  
Raven continues: “I’m an engineer, I’ve been working on the construction of a spaceship for the last 4 months. The ship is now nearly ready to board and we’ve been talking about who the most appropriate person would be to go on a mission.”

  
She looks expectantly at you.

  
(You still can’t comprehend what’s going on.)

  
“Wow. … That’s unexpected.” you finally say.

  
“Yeah, I know. I’ve been doing some crazy innovations over here…” she trails off into some explanations on how she constructed the ship and you don’t understand one thing.

  
Nevertheless you are fascinated by her. She’s creating a space ship out of limited material on an one hundred year old Ark. If that isn’t something.

  
“There’s only one thing Clarke.”

  
When she mentions your name you realize that you zoomed out for the biggest part of her explanation speech. You force yourself to look into her eyes and she locks you in her gaze.

  
“You can’t board this ship without knowing it by heart.” she says. “We will spend the next 2 months learning it from inside out.”

  
This seems important. The first thing coming out of your mouth is “Are you kidding me? We will spend 2 months for this?” It’s not as if you were more shocked by the fact that you will spend 2 months working on a spaceship, it’s more that you are actually going on a mission to discover freaking _planets_ , but this just might be a reasonable objection.

  
Raven seems unimpressed. “Yes” she simply replies. “If you want to survive in space you have to know every little screw this ship has.”

  
Your mum, dad and Kane smile expectantly at you. You forgot they were there.

  
“We will leave you here” your mum says.

  
“If there should be any problem just let us know” your dad continues. “We can talk it through.”

  
Kane gives you an encouraging smile. “It might be better for you to bunk over here with Raven too.” You don’t have to walk here and you two can get to know each other better.”

  
You swallow down the lump that has formed in your throat.

  
“Ok, so we have to go now darling. Today’s agenda is fully packed again” your dad says. He smiles at you and you feel a bit better.

  
“Alright” you say. “I’ll try.”

 

So you and Raven start. You observe each and every part of the ship together. You examine every little screw and go through the countless little details you have to remember on your trip to space.

Some days are harsh but nights are mostly harsher.

 

You toss around in your sleep and sometimes you even wake up Raven.

 

You dream of endlessness and infinity manifesting itself in stars and light.

 

You become friends with Raven.

“Clarke, what’s your favourite colour?” she asks you one day.

“Green” you answer.

“Why is that?”

“The Earth holds so many promises but what I treasure the most is the change from nothing to life, which is all green and bright.” you answer truthfully.

Raven just looks at you and says: “We really need to get that ship going Clarke. Let’s hurry up.”

 

 

You go back to work.

 

Your dreams are clear but unfocused the following nights.

 

(One night you dream that you are outside of the space ship and emptiness embraces you.)

 

 

 

“This is the main cubicle.” Raven says. “You have to be very observant right now. It may cost your life if you don’t.”

  
You open the small lit that covers the entrance together. It is just big enough to squeeze yourself through. Your pulse inevitably speeds up.

  
Ravens legs are the last thing you see before she disappears inside. “Come on Clarke” she calls from inside out. “It’s your turn now.”

  
Your breath catches in your throat. You grip the sides of the latch to pull yourself up. The muscles in your arms ache from the action. You are not like Raven with her strong arms and lithe figure. You are not used to this kind of movement. You push your elbows through and put your feet onto the two little stirrups hanging out on the side.

  
When your head pokes inside, Raven’s outstretched hand is the first thing you see. You quickly grab it and she pulls you up. You take one of your feet from the stirrups to lift it inside and breath out a relieved sigh when you are finally steady.

  
“I think you might need some more practice darling, you should start training” Raven says and gives you a wink.

  
“Haha that’s funny” you say. You know that she’s right though.

  
(You will spend the next few days pulling yourself through the latch to train.)

 

Soon you know each and every corner of the ship as if it was your second skin. You even know how the mechanics inside work. Raven explained it all to you, you are pretty sure by now that she’s a genius of some sort.

When you asked her about how exactly the press of one start button could catapult a ship into space she merely laughed and said “Look Clarke, I’m an engineer, I know how to build all of this, I know how to make it work and run, I know the technic behind it, but what will actually happen once this ship starts into endlessness is a totally different story. It lies in the possibility of technique, it lies in the sheer spark of electricity that pressing this button means. It’s not less and it’s not more. This bolt of energy can mean everything and nothing. It’s from 0 to 1 and from 1 to 0.”

When you lie in bed with Raven breathing steadily in and out at the other side of the room you think about the possibilities hidden between 0 and 1.

 

From nothing to something and from something to nothing.

 

(Time passes quickly.)

 

 Then your mum and dad stand in the doorway. There's a smile on your mother's face and tears in her eyes.  Your father is next to her, his face mirroring hers. 

 

Raven gives you a walkie talkie.

 

“It’s time to go now.”

  
“You’ll be alright.”

  
“If anything’s going on just contact us through the device. You know how it works.”

 

The big sliding door between you, the spaceship and them closes when you finally walk through to board.

Raven pressed the button.

 

You pull yourself through the lit of the ship with ease, it closes and you sit behind the steering wheel. 

You are faced with endlessness when the last transparent barrier between you and space disappears.

 

You turn back to throw all of them a smile through the window of your cockpit and wave. 

 

Then you press the big green start button. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I need a beta. Anyone up to talk with me about all of this?


End file.
